Queer Neo-Mexicanism: Negotiating Mexican and Gay Identities in the Art of Nahum B. Zenil and Julio Galán

The Mexican artists Nahum B. Zenil and Julio Galán have become the poster children for being gay and Mexican in contemporary art criticism. Critics have drawn comparisons between Zenil and Galán because of their thematic treatment of gay sexuality and Mexican nationalism. These comparisons, however, have often assumed that Zenil and Galán are representing a monolithic gay sexuality that is unaffected by their social class, their relationships to nationalism and Catholicism, and their views on the role of art in social activism. This paper aims to analyze specifically how Zenil and Galán represent two distinct gay identities, all the while employing the similar themes of suffering, the vulnerability of the gay male body, and the use of nationalist and Catholic symbols. Through a close reading of visual texts and the methodological lens of queer theory and art history, the paper will show that both artists represent homosexuality as a social construction that is influenced by the other identity categories the artists inhabit

YouTube or You Lose: Grand Challenges Canada Explores Whether Scientists Are Ready for Web-Based Grant Competitions

It is not hard to trace the influence of technology on the way we read the literature or give scientific presentations. Not so long ago, chemists used hard copies of Chemical Abstracts to find papers and sticks of chalk to deliver talks. Only over the past decade have computer presentations become the norm. In contrast, the way that grants are evaluated has remained relatively unchanged: scientists submit written proposals that are then evaluated by committees of scientists in the field. Might this process soon change as well? The not-for-profit organization Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) recently sponsored a competition in which researchers presented audacious ideas to attack problems related to global health (Figure 1). In its search for bold ideas from scientists, the GCC organization tested a bold idea as well: each proposal had to be accompanied by a 2-min-long video for public consumption on the Internet. Web users were encouraged not only to view these video summaries but to participate in the evaluation of the proposals by means of clicking on a “thumbs up” button (similar to the “like” buttons found on YouTube and Facebook). The votes from the public video were used by GCC to evaluate each applicant’s ability to “engage the public and increase awareness in the grand challenges facing global health today”.^1 The competition collected over 180,000 votes and over 100,000 unique online visits from 156 countries in a mere 4 weeks—staggering statistics for scientific videos. While each applicant also submitted a written version of the proposal, which was privately evaluated by “standard” peer-review, the public video feature was one of the first direct implementations of Web 2.0 technology (user-interactive sites and applications) to evaluate scientific proposals. The competition raises an important question: to what extent, if any, should Web 2.0 technology or other direct evaluation by the public be used to determine the outcome of scientific grant proposals

The Upsides & Downsides of College Athletics Within the NCAA: An Analysis of the Rules and a Personal Account of the Power of Resilience

ABSTRACT For the past five years, I have been a Division I Women’s Basketball player under the National Collegiate Athletic Association. I have played at two different schools, I have spoken to numerous investigators and lawyers, and I am now on my third set of college basketball coaches. Most athletes that enter college have one set of four-five coaches during their four-five-year period, I have had thirteen. College basketball has presented countless challenges for me mentally and psychically. For a while I thought that the adversity that I was facing as a young woman playing a high level of athletics was considered normal, but now that I have grown, reflected, and sought out opinions of professionals I know that my experience wasn’t a “normal” one. Throughout my time as an NCAA athlete I have been home to the harsh routine that so many young student-athletes struggle to get through. In this paper, I am reflecting upon my experience as a college athlete and college sports as I know it. The NCAA is one of the most corrupt corporations in our modern-day world. Despite its claims that ensure success of student-athletes, the NCAA treats athletes not developing human beings, but as objects that contribute to their dirty multi-million-dollar franchise. At the end of the day, they NCAA is a business that operates around making money around student-athlete’s identity and runs in a way that doesn’t benefit student-athletes. Throughout my paper I will be discussing the rules of the NCAA and how they play out in reality, as well as how they can be improved. I am also writing this paper to have a conversation about how hard it is to be a college athlete in general, many people have a false perception of the life we live, and I want to clear some things up. The NCAA doesn’t take the mental health of athletes seriously. There are plenty of opportunities to improve the way the NCAA treats its athletes, while still profiting from the goldmine they make off of amateurism. The NCAA doesn’t put student athletes in a position to take full advantage of their scholarship, let alone gives them a chance at being a healthy, functioning, young adult. I will be telling personal stories that relate to bigger topics and issues within the NCAA, as well as how I think they can be improved for the well-being of college athletes. This paper is my story, this paper is a personal account of the power of resilience

“Did you know that David Beckham speaks nine languages?”:AI-supported production process for enhanced personalization of audio-visual content

The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into the media production process has contributed to the automation of selected tasks and stronger hybridization of man and machine in the process; however, the AI-supported production process has expanded from the traditional, three-stage model by a new phase of consumer evaluation and feedback collection, analysis, and application. This has opened a way for far-reaching content personalization and thus offers a new type of media experience. Powering the production process with a constant stream of consumer data has also affected the process itself and changed its nature from linear to cyclical

Advertising as a Creative Industry:Regime of Paradoxes

At the crossroads of culture and commerce, the advertising industry is a regime of paradoxes. This book examines the place of advertising in today’s creative industries, exploring the major challenges advertisers confront as they engage with other creative sectors. Izabela Derda, author, media scholar, and industry expert, offers insights into how the industry keeps deconstructing its own creative processes and collaborative models as it attempts to stay relevant. Through extensive case studies and interviews with industry professionals and thought leaders, this book examines the sector’s struggle to adapt to new business models and to monetize creativity in today’s media landscape, from re-engaging audiences through media more typical of arts and entertainment to managing intricate cross-sectoral creative collaborations. From redesigning workplaces to satisfy the expectations of the youngest generations of creatives to reconsidering the paradigm of conventional creative teams, the advertising sector has swiftly adjusted to the seismic changes in today’s media landscape. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of creative media, advertising, and media studies, as well as those interested in understanding the changing complexities and latest innovations of the creative industries. Advertising professionals, artists, and policymakers will find relevant insights and possible solutions for the major challenges facing the advertising industry today. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a CC-BY license.</p

At the intersection of interests: evolving creative processes and new agency-media dynamics

The development of forms at the blurred boundaries between advertising and editorial content has led to a shift in advertising industry practices. In the process of campaign development, it is not uncommon for media platforms to take on some of creative tasks that were once traditionally delivered by advertising agencies. This study investigates how changes in the media landscape have affected creative processes, and identifies a paradigm shift whereby media platforms have become important (or even

From Fury to Erasure: Shifting Representations of HIV/AIDS in Queer Art and Politics

This paper traces the shifting representations of HIV/AIDS in queer art and politics from the late 1980s until the present. We identify a nonlinear trajectory with three major characteristics: 1) militant and explicit representations of HIV/AIDS and their relation to queer sexuality, 2) memorials that publicize the artists’ personal mourning of their HIV/AIDS-related losses, and 3) HIV/AIDS\u27 near disappearance from queer art and politics. This transition throughout the AIDS crisis to contemporary times relates to an ongoing cultural understanding of sex as private issue, a notion that the works of David Wojnarowicz, the Gran Fury Artist Collective, and Robert Blanchon seek to disrupt. In contrast to these sexually explicit works that destabilize the public/private binary, this paper then examines the work of Felix González-Torres and the AIDS Memorial Quilt where memorialization is central and sexuality is all but erased. Furthermore, th is paper notes the trend in contemporary times in which dominant queer culture has come to view HIV/AIDS as a personal, manageable medical condition, or a private issue, as witnessed in its erasure from queer art and politics. Responding to this privatization and erasure, the works of Sean Welker attempt to make public what this erasure seeks to privatize. Finally, this paper discusses the deleterious effects of this cultural erasure identified here in queer art but symptomatic of a larger trend in queer politics